The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

 

Sermon for Baptism of Jesus, January 12, 2025

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22  ¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ.  ¹⁶John answered them all, “I baptize you with water.  But someone mightier than I is coming.  I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  ¹⁷His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor.  He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”… ²¹When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.  While he was praying, heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with you.” (EHV)

The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

Dear friends waiting for Christ,

            There is an interesting contrast between the two main people in our text.  First, you have a unique individual with an unusual lifestyle who the crowds want to elevate to celebrity status for his powerful preaching, and at the same time, you have the One who John was sent to serve, the Son of God who humbled himself in such a way that the crowd doesn’t yet recognize Him.

Just as God had planned, John came out of the wilderness, where his diet consisted of honey and wild locusts, and he was dressed in camel hair clothing.  Normally, nothing about that should have attracted the crowds, but John came preaching a powerful message of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sin in preparation for meeting the Messiah.  The Jewish authorities didn’t know what to make of John.  They questioned his right to do what he was doing, but John continued to treat people like the sinners in need of salvation that they and all people truly are.

Jesus, however, was walking undetected among the crowds.  The Son who came down from heaven to rescue people from sin and death humbled Himself to appear as an ordinary person.  He hadn’t yet begun to preach, nor to demonstrate His true power among the masses, but here in Luke’s Gospel, we see Jesus begin His mission as The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

Amazed by his preaching, the crowds began to wonder if John the Baptist was the Christ God had long promised to send.  He fit some of the prophecies and his preaching was having a powerful effect on the crowds.  Thus, those expecting the Savior questioned whether John was the one they were seeking.  In humble response, John immediately rejected their imaginations and set the record straight: “I baptize you with water.  But someone mightier than I is coming.  I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”  Informed by the Holy Spirit, John had no misconceptions about his role.  He was the servant sent ahead.  His task was to make people aware of their need for the Savior.  John righty recognized that he also was a sinner who had no right to claim anything more than being the lowliest servant to the King.

John’s attitude is one we would rightly follow.  None of us is worthy to be elevated into a position of glory.  Whether we might be great at what God assigns us to do, or not, we don’t measure up to the perfection God demands to inhabit His house of glory in heaven.  To people living ordinary lives just like you and me John warned, “His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor.  He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  John’s preaching shows that sin and rejection of God’s promised Savior will not be tolerated, because God in His mercy was sending the solution to our guilt.

On the other hand, we meet Jesus, born of Mary, but not of a human father.  Rather, Mary became pregnant as the Holy Spirit came over her and the Son of God entered human flesh to live in our humble condition in such a way that we could be counted righteous and holy before God.  Thus, the One Man who is true God, with all God’s power, authority, and glory, appeared to those coming to John as an ordinary resident of Nazareth—a carpenter’s son, following in Joseph’s trade.

In this text, though, we see what is really going on with Jesus.  When Matthew reported on Jesus’ baptism, he tells us that John protested Jesus coming to him to be baptized.  John recognized his own need for salvation, even as he also recognized that Jesus didn’t need to repent.  However, you and I needed Jesus to be baptized.  You see, if Jesus isn’t connected with Baptism, our baptisms would have no effect for us.  Therefore, for you and me, The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too.”  In being baptized, Jesus wasn’t repenting of any guilt for He had none for which to repent.  However, Jesus goes to John to be baptized so that our sins, and all the sin of the world, would transfer to Jesus.  By entering into the Baptism covenant, Jesus is exchanging His righteousness for our guilt. 

It is exactly what the Father in heaven planned for Jesus to do.  Of course, not just to be baptized.  God’s plan for Jesus includes so much more.  God gave His Son into human flesh so that Jesus could live for you and me, so that Jesus would experience the harsh effects of sin in the world, so that Jesus would experience all the terrible temptations that so trap us into guilt yet remain without any sin, nor any rebellion against God’s will and plan for mankind, and so that Jesus would know the rejection of man even after displaying the power of God.

In all of this, Jesus was doing precisely as His heavenly Father sent Him to do.  Unlike you and me, Jesus entered into His ministry without ever once sinning.  At the same time, He is willingly giving His holiness into our need and taking upon Himself all the guilt of our sinfulness, our broken promises and forgotten good intentions, and our rebellion against what God desires for His people.  The holiness Jesus was transferring to His people is confirmed for us in the words God the Father spoke from heaven.  While he was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love.  I am well pleased with you.”

Whenever you feel tempted to sin, whenever you feel pain or sorrow for the effects of sin in our world, whether that be disease afflicting your body, or death stealing away someone you love, whether it be the things troubling your conscience when you know you have done wrong, done things that hurt others, or just go against God’s law, or when you feel the sting of sin as someone else is causing pain and trouble in your life, know that your Savior has felt those very same troubles and hurts.  Jesus lived in our flesh, walked in our path, and felt the struggle of daily life in a sin-damaged world.  He knows our needs and our pain.  Therefore, Jesus spent His whole earthly life living the perfect selflessness, perfect humility, perfect submission to His Father’s will, and perfect obedience to the law so that we could be counted holy.

Jesus so well-pleased His Father that you and I can remember our baptisms confident in the forgiveness, righteousness, salvation, and eternal life that Jesus has transferred to you and me.  Each time we confess our sins, here in worship, among brothers in faith, or in your home among family members, the Holy Spirit has assured us that through Baptism all your sins were put on Jesus and His righteousness is now credited to you.

However, lest anyone be so foolish as to imagine that we have a get out of eternal prison free card.  This gracious gift is not given to those who continue in their rebellious ways.  Jesus promised us, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)  At the same time, Jesus confirms the warning John had been preaching, for Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers.  Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:5-6)  A different metaphor than John preached, but the result is the same.  Those who seek salvation in any other place or thing than Jesus Christ will be thrown out into the outer darkness and pain of hell.

Dear friends, because God so loved the world, He gave His own dear Son into suffering and death so that He could offer and give to you the forgiveness, perfect righteousness, and reconciliation we need to live with Him forever.  That was granted to most of us as we were carried to the font as infants.  There, through water and Word, God claimed us as His own dear children.  There, He connected us with Jesus and all He accomplished so that we might be saved.  There, the Holy Spirit entered our lives, washed away our guilt, and began the new life in us that your parents and the Church have been nurturing in you since that day. 

As you return to God’s Word in your worship, Bible classes, daily reading, and prayers be confident in all that God has promised so that you have life and salvation and a Savior who knows what you are going through.  You have a Savior who gladly hears your prayers and answers them.  God continues to do this for you because He never changes, and He never denies Himself.  His Son is exactly the same.  Jesus lived for you—died for you—rose again from the dead to show that He will also raise you from the grave when He returns in full glory on the last day, and He now reigns in majesty for your eternal good.  All this is guaranteed to those who believe, because The Mighty One put Himself in your baptism.  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.